At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 165, Complete Xingyang City Defense and Juxian Offensive and Defense Battle

The next day, the coalition forces moved their stone cannons and continued to shoot stone bombs at the place where Daliang City collapsed by the Yellow River water.

The effect this time was indeed much better than the city wall attacked at the beginning, because most of the wall was made of loess, with only bricks on the surface. Such a version of the city wall could not withstand the fierce bombing of hundreds of kilograms of stone cannons.

On the first day of the siege, a corner of the wall was broken open by hundreds of stone bullets. This can be regarded as the sin committed by the Qin officials themselves. After the Daliang City Wall collapsed, they did not try to repair it, so that this scumbag project became a place that killed them, and they had no choice but to swallow this bitter pill.

The next day, hundreds of stone bullets hit the Daliang city wall. At this time, there were cracks everywhere on the city wall, and there were more and more gaps in the wall, making the city wall look like an abandoned ancient city.

The Qin soldiers in the city were extremely panicked. Not only were the enemy's stone cannons powerful, but there were also visible cracks in the city wall under their feet. How could they not be afraid while standing on such a shoddy project?

Su Peng was not without struggles. In the middle of the night after the bombardment on the second day, he sent soldiers out of the city to burn out all the Han army's stone cannons. However, they were caught by the Han army who had already ambushed them. Almost all of the thousands of soldiers were captured. All were captured.

On the third day, the trebuchets only attacked for half a day.

"Boom, boom, boom!" With a thunderous sound, the Daliang city wall collapsed.

"Hehe, hehe, hehe!" The cheers of the Han army shook the world.

"Attack!" Xu Fan ordered.

Facing the menacing Yingbu regiment, Qin general Zhao Rong decisively abandoned the cities around Xingyang and concentrated his troops on key points. In the north, 4 troops were concentrated to defend the Xingyang and Aocang lines, while on the west front, tens of thousands of troops were dispatched to defend the Chenggao and Hulao lines.

It would be difficult to attack the city walls around Xingyang instead of attacking the city gate.

The Han army spent a huge amount of money to break through Wengcheng, but they would be caught in the Qin army's condescending attack from all sides. At that time, the Han army soldiers would have nowhere to hide.

Then the soldiers entered the camp repaired by Yingbu, and Xu Fan ordered the entire army to rest and reorganize.

Zhang Liang smiled bitterly and said, "Have you forgotten that Xingyang is near Aocang? How could there be a shortage of food and grass?"

Xingyang, coalition camp.

After the moat, you can see the Wengcheng of Xingyang. Zhao Rong built four Wengcheng in Xingyang. The Wengcheng is half a small city outside the main city gate. Although the area is not large, the wall is 6-7 feet high and it is a city outside the city.

The remaining Qin soldiers lost their commanders and surrendered to the Han army. So far, Daliang, a world-famous city, fell into the hands of the coalition forces.

The next day, Xu Fan led a group of Han generals to circle around Xingyang to check the city defense of Xingyang. At this time, everyone recognized what Yingbu said. Zhao Rongzhen had transformed Xingyang into a spiny turtle shell.

Everyone was shocked after taking a tour of Xingyang City.

But Yingbu didn't take it seriously. After all, the focus of this battle was not on Chenggao, but on capturing Xingyang and Aocang. Song Liu's army could block the Qin army in Guanzhong and protect the army's flanks.

When Yingbu saw Xu Fan's army coming forward to greet them, he smiled and said, "King Han, you came so fast. I thought it would take half a month for you to conquer Daliang."

In order to annex the six countries, Qin State transported all the grain and grass of Qin State to Aocang and then transferred it to all parts of the world. The army that was watching was the thoroughfare of Rongyang World, which had the geographical advantage of being on the main artery of east-west, north-south transportation.

The generals of the Han army were stunned for a while. Considering Aocang's tens of thousands of stones of food and fodder, it was not certain who could survive the attack.

Then Xu Fan ordered Ge Ying to lead an army of 3 people across Jishui to attack Dongjun, and guard the flanks of the army to prevent the Qin army from suddenly attacking.

Xingyang is named after the Yang River located on the west bank of Xingze. It has Hongtong Road and Huaisi River in the east, Mang Mountain and the Yellow River in the north, Jingsuo River in the south, and Hulao Pass in the west and Luoyang. The terrain is dangerous, and it is the hub of north and south and the tunnel between east and west. During the Spring and Autumn Period, it belonged to the State of Zheng. The State of Zheng was conquered and destroyed by Han, and Rongyang City became the capital of South Korea. The Qin Dynasty took out Xingyang and established Sanchuan County as the county government and established Aocang in Mang Mountain.

There are a large number of Juma under the four walls of Xingyang, about 2-3 feet wide. The densely packed Juma are like a hedge covered with thorns, protecting the city of Xingyang.

The advantage of Xingyang in the Western Henan Corridor is that it forms a deep defense system with Chenggao. At the same time, it has Guangwu Mountain in the north and a blocking gap in the east. It has its own advantages over other areas in terms of terrain. Xingyang is an important entrance from the Central Plains to the Luoyang Basin from the west, where mountains (Songshan) and rivers (Yellow River) meet. After crossing the Yellow River, you can enter the Heji Plain and then reach Hebei.

The Qinling Mountains' defense of the Guanzhong Plain and the Luoyang Basin has come to an end here, and there is no danger of defending the plains to the east. Therefore, if the Guanzhong Plain and the Luoyang Basin are in the same power, this is an important place that must be defended.

At this time, the morale of the Qin army had long been destroyed by stone cannons, and they had no ability to stop the Han army. In this way, the Han soldiers captured the four walls of Daliang, the arsenal, and the granary, and surrounded the government office.

The archers of the Qin Army stood here and could exchange firepower with the soldiers on the city wall. Xu Fan completely imagined that the soldiers who wanted to climb the ladder would be attacked from three sides by the Qin Army's crossbows, and they would not even have a place to hide.

Yingbu smiled bitterly and said: "Zhao Rong is a madman. He built Xingyang like a tortoise shell with thorns. If your siege weapons, King Han, are not strong enough, I am afraid it will be difficult to conquer Xingyang."

Xu Fan was a little surprised. Zhao Rong actually knew how to dig trenches during the cold weapon era. There were multiple low walls behind the trenches. If there were archers and crossbowmen behind the low wall, the Han army would probably suffer heavy casualties if they filled up the trenches. There were three such trenches, arranged at a distance of 200 to 100 steps from Xingyang City. These three sets of trenches could be broken through with conventional means. The casualties incurred by the defense line will not be small, but this is only the outermost line of defense of Xingyang City.

Yingbo likes to charge at the front line most in battles. On several occasions during the Han army's siege battles, he was the first to rush onto the city wall. His martial arts skills were recognized by the entire Han army. He was extremely brave in killing enemies. And he Everyone was a little surprised when they didn't dare to attack the city.

Ji Bu said with a smile: "Are there any cities that Yingbu dare not attack?"

Yingbu said: "When the King of Han inspects the city defense of Xingyang, you will know that I, Yingbu, am not exaggerating at all."

Xu Fan could well imagine that the Han soldiers finally broke through many obstacles and reached the city wall, only to find that there was not even a place to set up a ladder.

Compared with the coalition forces commanded by Xu Fan, which took several days to conquer the beam, the attack of the Yingbo Corps on the western front was much smoother.

From the current point of view, the situation in Xingyang is much worse than they imagined. The Qin army actually dug a large number of moats two hundred steps away from the city wall. The moat is about three feet wide and more than one foot deep. Bamboo thorns and wooden thorns of different lengths are laid in the trench. The consequences of falling down are unimaginable.

Tens of thousands of Han army vanguards rushed into the beam from the gap.

This is equivalent to adding an extra layer of defense to Xingyang City. When the city gate is attacked by enemy troops, the defenders on the city tower can quickly kill the enemy soldiers attacking the city.

After the trenches is the moat. Xingyang's moat is extremely wide, about seven feet wide, and is wider than any other small river. This is an insurmountable obstacle for the Han army.

After doing all this, Yingbu commanded the soldiers to build a large camp outside the east gate of Xingyang City that could accommodate 30 people. At the same time, he began to build ladders, rams and other siege equipment.

Chen Xiao shook his head and said: "The only way I can think of to conquer this city is to besiege Xingyang. When the soldiers in the city run out of food and grass, our army will win."

Su Peng, the captain of the Qin army, saw that he could not do it and committed suicide with his sword. The county magistrate Yuan Zhong and the county captain Weiping committed suicide by taking poison.

Ji Xindao: "With such a powerful fortification, no wonder you dare not attack Yingbu. Every city defense here has to be filled with life. Once it is filled, our Han army is finished."

More importantly, the defense around the city wall is even more terrifying. Zhao Rong installed many wooden structure arrow towers on the top of the Xingyang city wall. There is a protruding arrow tower every few dozen feet. They are a bit like the balconies of later generations protruding outside the city wall.

Yingbu followed the route of his last attack on Xingyang and once again conquered Jing County, Fengshi County, Wuqiang County and other counties, and completely wiped out the strongholds around Xingyang.

Xu Fan, on the other hand, led the main force of the coalition forces to continue marching westward, marching along the Honggou River to Xingyang on the 5th.

At the same time, Yingbo sent General Song Liu to lead 3 soldiers to attack Hulao Pass. However, due to the solidity of Hulao and the narrow combat terrain, it was difficult for the Han army to take full advantage of its strength. Song Liu tried to attack several times, but the victory failed.

Xu Fan smiled and said, "Have you tried attacking Xingyang?"

After watching the city defense of Xingyang, Xu Fan finally understood why it took several years to conquer a city in the cold weapon era. If not counting the stone cannons, even if it cost 100,000 lives, it might not be possible to conquer it. Xingyang City.

Zhang Liang said soberly: "Fortunately we have stone cannons."

But he quickly frowned and said: "It is still difficult to capture Xingyang with only 50 stone cannons."

During this time, Qin Bo was also leading the Mohist disciples to build stone cannons these days, and the Han craftsmen in the rear were also building stone cannons, so now the number of stone cannons in Xu Fan's hands has exceeded 50, and the number is still increasing rapidly. Xu Fan said: "Zhao Rong used all the defensive weapons he could think of, but he did not expect that our army's stone cannons could completely destroy his fortifications. 50 stone cannons are not enough, so we will make 500 or 1000. , Qin Bo."

Qin Bo bowed his hands and said, "My subordinate is here."

"The king appoints you as the captain of the logistics camp and assigns 3 civilians to your charge. From now on, you will be responsible for building stone cannons, taking over the surrounding kilns, and building 50 brick kilns specifically for firing pottery bombs."

Qin Bo, Zhang Liang, Yingbu and others all looked at Xu Fan in shock. Even if they took over the surrounding kilns, they would also need to build 50 brick kilns specifically for firing pottery bombs. Isn't this too extravagant?

"Ji Xin, please inform the Prime Minister and ask him to bake 300 kilograms of clay stone bullets in the rear, and then transport them to the front line."

Ji Xin said with a look of astonishment: "No"

With so many kilns built, do they still need transportation from the rear? This is the doubt of all Han generals.

Only Xu Fan understood that even with so many kilns, pottery bombs may not be enough. If there were really 1000 stone cannons, each of them would need 10 1-pound stone bullets to fire 300 shells every day.

Before Xu Fan traveled through time, even the Bald Eagle Alliance could not withstand the consumption of war, let alone this feudal era. Xu Fan was worried that if he did not seize the time to make clay bombs now, when the war started, the stone cannons would be fired. One day off for 10 days.

After Xu Fan conquered Daliang, he completely opened up the water transportation road from Xingyang to Chen County. Zhou Zhang, who was in charge of Chen County, continuously recruited civilian laborers to gather in Chen County after the spring plowing and harvest. A large amount of grain and grass baggage was pulled and transported by civilian laborers all the way from Chen County. The boats went upstream and gathered in Fengshi County.

A large number of simple wharves were built on both sides of Goushi County. Chenjun's grain, grass and baggage were disembarked here. The grain, grass and baggage in Goushi County were piled up like mountains. In order to protect his grain storage areas, Xu Fan sent the captain Cao Xing to lead 1 people. Elite soldiers were stationed here to protect the army's granaries.

And Qin Bo was also busy directing the people to cut down trees and excavate stones. Brick kilns were built, coal was excavated, and the craftsmen in the camp were busy making siege equipment day and night.

Xu Fan is now focusing on hoarding supplies and building stone cannons. When he has enough stone cannons and pottery bombs, he will launch a full-scale attack on Xingyang.

In early May of the 37th year of the First Emperor, Ju County.

"Boom, boom, boom!" The sound of the war drums outside the city began to grow louder and gradually turned into a roar.

Zhao Hong and the soldiers guarding the city suddenly looked outside the city wall in shock.

The vague army began to appear. The army kept advancing and stopped 200 steps away from the city wall.

Zhao Hong said with a hint of exhaustion: "Sound the drums and prepare to fight!"

"Boom, boom, boom!" The fierce and violent war drums resounded through Ju County. Zhao Hong felt that the fatigue in his body had been swept away. He shouted loudly: "The whole army is ready to fight!"

The soldiers around kept shouting: "Fight, fight, fight!"

The increasingly synchronized sounds not only drove away the fear in his heart, but also drove away their physical fatigue, making their blood boil and their fighting spirit high.

"Quick, quick, move quickly, the enemy is coming again. If you don't want to die, prepare enough equipment. Otherwise, all the enemy's bows and arrows are coming, and you can't even find a shield." A captain of the Qin army kept saying. Go urge the soldiers to shout.

The soldiers of the Qin army continued to move faster under the urging of the captain. The defensive soldiers climbed onto the city wall and took up positions one by one. The people were organized by the Qin army to transport stones, giant trees, long arrows, and other weapons such as swords, guns, swords, and halberds. .

Shitou pulled a young soldier beside him and said, "Tugen, follow big brother later. Don't rush too far forward when fighting the enemy."

Tugen nodded nervously.

This is Shitou's younger brother in Ju County. He and Shitou are both from Lantian County, Guanzhong. But compared to Shitou, Tugen is only 16 years old this year. He just turned 15 last year and joined the Qin Army. According to Qin's standards, he is When he came of age, he was drafted as a soldier.

Then Tu Gen followed Feng Jie to Qi Di, but as a young adult, he didn't understand anything. He even stood in the wrong team sometimes.

It's just that he was lucky and followed the army into two battles. The Qin army won both battles, but he didn't even kill anyone, so naturally he didn't make any achievements.

Then came the battle when Xiang Liang's 13-strong army besieged Ju County. Such a fierce siege was not something Tugen, a new recruit, could adapt to. If it weren't for Shi Shi, Tugen would have died on the battlefield.

Every time Shitou sees Tu Gen, he will remember that he has killed his fellow countryman Mao Tou in the battle, so he will take care of Tu Gen on the dangerous battlefield. He is still an underage child. Shitou feels that he should not die on the battlefield. superior.

"The enemy is about to attack the city, everyone, be prepared!" Zhao Yong, the captain of the Qin Army, shouted as a reminder.

Shitou reminded: "Take your shield and hide under the base of the city wall."

Tugen was a little scared and asked: "Brother Shitou, when will our reinforcements arrive?"

He sees hundreds or thousands of soldiers casualties every day. Instead of looking forward to the war, he is extremely afraid.

Shitou looked into the distance and said slowly: "Come on, it will take time to assemble a 10-strong army. General Feng Jie will come to rescue us soon."

In fact, Shitou didn't know when the reinforcements would arrive, but now he could only use this method to give Tugen confidence, and at the same time, it also gave him confidence.

Under the city, Xiang Liang summoned the senior generals in the army to assign combat tasks.

Xiang Bo said: "There is news from the north that the Qin army Feng Jie has assembled 8 Qin troops and marched from Linzi City to Ju County. In ten days at most, Feng Jie's army will arrive in Ju County, so what is left for us time is limited."

Everyone was shocked. Ju County had not been conquered yet, and the main force of the Qin army attacked again, which was not a good thing for them.

Xiang Liang said: "I have discussed with the army to attack for three more days. If Ju County cannot be captured in three days, our army will give up the attack and prepare for a big battle with Feng Jie."

Fan Zeng pointed to the map of Ju County and encouraged the generals: "We still have a chance. After more than half a month of offensive, our army has greatly depleted the Qin army's morale and strength, and their defense equipment has also become extremely scarce. At this time, the Qin army is at the end of its war effort, and now is the time for us to reap the fruits."

Then Xiang Liang began to arrange the siege mission. Xiang Yu led 4 troops to attack the east gate of Ju County, Hengchu led 4 troops to attack the west gate of Ju County, and Xiang Liang led 4 troops to attack the south gate of Ju County.

After each handed over their tasks, Xiang Liang finally left Xiang Yu to warn: "You are not allowed to personally lead the attack on the city, otherwise I will remove you from your vanguard position!"

As soon as Xiang Liang saw his nephew's excited expression, he knew what he wanted to do, so he warned him in advance.

Xiang Yu was a little dissatisfied and said, "If you hadn't stopped me, uncle, my nephew would have taken the lead and captured Ju County."

Xiang Liang hated iron and said: "I asked you to lead the army in battle because I want you to become a general, not to become a dead soldier. Where have you read the art of war that my uncle taught you?"

Xiang Yu was unconvinced and retorted: "On the battlefield, no one risks their lives to win or lose."

Xiang Liang said angrily: "On the battlefield, you risk your life to win or lose, but you are not allowed to die. Since ancient times, no general has personally attacked the city!"

Xiang Bo saw his eldest brother angry and said, "Yu'er, listen to eldest brother, even if you are born with supernatural powers, you can easily be killed by a long arrow or a stone from the enemy. The military talents that eldest brother and I are looking forward to are not used here. .”

Xiang Yu could only promise Xiang Liang to leave here.

"Dong dong dong!" Xiang Liang's 12 troops were ready to attack the city.

Xiang Liang held the Qin-character banner flying high on the city tower and said with a hint of disgust: "Attack with the whole army!"

(End of this chapter)